Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2026
MRI-guided Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy for Patients with Medically-refractory Essential Tremor
Published on: December 13, 2017
Cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation attenuates essential tremor by modulating visuomotor network
Xue Shi1, Runyang He2, Lin Zhu1
1Department of Neurology, Shenzhen People's Hospital, The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University, The First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology, No. 1017 Dongmen North Road, Luohu District, Shenzhen 518001 Guangdong, China.
Objective:
To investigate the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in essential tremor (ET) using source-level electroencephalography (EEG) phase-locking value analysis.
Methods:
EEG recordings and clinical assessments of ET patients (n = 20) before and after 4-week bilateral cerebellar rTMS were studied and evaluated for correlations. Brain source activities were reconstructed using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). Functional connectivity and local network metrics in the alpha band (8-13 Hz) were compared with those of healthy controls (n = 20).
Results:
ET patients had lower nodal efficiency in visual areas and reduced inter-regional occipital connectivity than controls. Local network metrics in the left superior occipital gyrus, left cuneus, and right fusiform gyrus negatively correlated with tremor severity and significantly improved with rTMS. Connectivity changes between the left inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) and superior parietal gyrus (SPG) and the right SPG and midcingulate cortex (MCC), strongly correlated with improvements in activities of daily living. Performance-related connectivity changes involved the left IOG-SPG, right SPG-MCC, and left middle occipital gyrus to the supplementary motor area.
Conclusions:
Cerebellar rTMS may alleviate ET by reorganizing functional connectivity within the visuomotor network.
Significance:
Our findings provide preliminary mechanistic insights and potential biomarkers for ET treatment, pending validation in future sham-controlled studies.
More Related Videos
07:19A Modified Lean and Release Technique to Emphasize Response Inhibition and Action Selection in Reactive Balance
Published on: March 19, 2020
12:13Assessing Primary Motor Cortex Excitability and Excitability Modulation by Pairing Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with Electromyography
Published on: October 7, 2025
